By: Matthew N. Thibaut, Esq. Employment Law Practice Group CIKLIN LUBITZ & O’CONNELL The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is an extremely technical statute that was enacted in 1938, which is the federal law providing employees overtime protection. Under the FLSA, an employee in the United States is entitled to receive 1.5x their regular rate of pay for hours over 40 unless they are exempt. The most common exemptions are the executive, professional and administrative exemptions, also referred to as the “white collar” exemptions. These exemptions are not determined by occupation, job title or classification, but rather by a two-part test: (1) duties test and (2)…
To pay Weekly or Biweekly (or some other frequency), that is the question. The US Department of Labor (DOL) does not specify any sort of frequency in which employees should be paid minimum wages or the overtime compensation it calls for. Instead the language states that “Wages required by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) are due on the regular payday for the pay period covered.” While this seems vague, the DOL takes this principal seriously. For example, if an employee fails to record time worked or submit a timesheet, and the employer is aware that work was performed, the…
This has been an interesting week in the world of information security. On Tuesday, Brian Krebs blog site, KrebsOnSecurity, posted an article detailing how a number of self service accounts were hijacked from ADP. In short, due to a weak registration process and a far too lackadaisical approach to stale accounts (i.e., accounts that were never activated by employees) on ADP’s part, as well as the inadvertent posting of sensitive registration codes on the part of a number of clients including a large commercial bank, U.S. Bancorp, victimizers were able make self service accounts for a considerable number of dormant accounts. In turn, the intruders used…
Going paperless. Some do it to save the environment, some do it to save money, and some do it to save time. No matter what the reason, there are some things to consider when it comes to the payroll process and the payroll check. While the “check” itself becomes obsolete as many individuals go on direct deposit, it is always attached to a check stub, or as we call it, a pay statement, a detail of the employee’s wages, deductions withheld, taxes withheld, and sometimes other important information. According to the United States Department of Labor, the Fair Labor Standards Act…
Late last year, Congress passed what is titled the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015. This past week, the IRS issued Notice 2016-22 which provides guidance and Transition Relief for employers claiming the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC). If you are not familiar with the WOTC, it is a tax incentive for employers to hire and retain individuals from specific target groups. The groups include certain Veterans, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients, Food Stamp recipients, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients, Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Referred Individuals, Ex-Felons, Summer Youth employees, and effective January 1st, 2016, there is…
Reciprocal agreements relieve employees who work and live in different states from the double burden of paying taxes in both states, requiring payment only to their home state. If any of your employees are subject to reciprocal agreements, you can help them out by withholding income tax for their state of residency. How Reciprocal Agreements Work Many states that impose an income tax have entered into reciprocal agreements. For example, Kentucky has reciprocal agreements with Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Residents of any of those states working in Kentucky are exempt from Kentucky income tax, and would pay and file income…
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) mandates that all employers who have more than ten employees are required to comply with the posting requirements of work related injuries. This posting is known as the OSHA 300 Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, and includes a summary of the previous year’s log of serious injiries. This information is important for employers, workers, and OSHA in evaluating the safety of a workplace, understanding industry hazards, and implementing worker protections to reduce and eliminate hazards. The due date for this posting is February 1st, 2016 for the year 2015, and it must…
Today, December 28th, 2015, the Internal Revenue Service issued Notice 2016-4, which extends the due dates for 2015 Information Reporting under I.R.C. sec 6055 and 6056, which includes the 1095-B and C forms and the 1095-B and C forms. This is great news for the many employers faced with the new filing requirements of these forms, and provides them with additional time to get their information together. The extended due date to issue the 1095-B or 1095-C forms to full-time employees has been extended from February 1st, 2016 to March 31st, 2016, as well as an extension of filing the forms to the…
This time of the year is a popular time to give gift cards to your employees as a way of showing appreciation, but you need to be sure it is reported as wages, and they pay tax on the value. Whether it is a $5 Starbucks card to a $50 gift card at a brand store, or even just a Visa gift card for $X amount, you need to include the full value of the gift in the employee’s taxable wages. The IRS considers gift cards as a cash equivalent, no matter what the value, and it does not fall under their…
On December 18, 2015, President Obama signed the Omnibus Spending Bill H.R. 2029 and the PATH Act (Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015) into law, which among other provisions, provides a five-year extension to the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) program, as well as expands its scope of eligible groups. The WOTC is basically a tax incentive for employers to hire and retain individuals from specific target groups. The groups include certain Veterans, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients, Food Stamp recipients, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients, Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Referred Individuals, Ex-Felons, and Summer Youth employees.…